Wasps disturbed by the boot of Wilkinson

Newcastle 59 Wasps 21
LAWRENCE DALLAGLIO could only look on in admiration as his England colleague Jonny Wilkinson stopped Wasps' revival dead in its tracks with a virtuoso display which included 29 points from the boot and a hand in almost everything else Newcastle achieved.

By Paul Stephens at Kingston Park

12:00AM BST 24 Sep 2000

Newcastle 59 Wasps 21

LAWRENCE DALLAGLIO could only look on in admiration as his England colleague Jonny Wilkinson stopped Wasps' revival dead in its tracks with a virtuoso display which included 29 points from the boot and a hand in almost everything else Newcastle achieved.

Newcastle, who move up to second place in the Premiership, had far too many bright ideas for Wasps. The Newcastle forwards conceded nothing to the Wasps' pack, and even without the injured Marius Hurter, who shores them up when they get into trouble, George Graham and Ross Nesdale maintained Newcastle's momentum.

But for two moments when Liam Botham went walkabout allowing Kenny Logan the freedom of the left channel, Newcastle would not have been flattered if they had turned round 23 points ahead. They played by far the better football and scored two spanking tries through John Leslie and Jamie Noon. The Falcons would have scored another if Botham had possessed the pace to reach the line when put clear. Sure he had 60 metres to go, but Phil Greening was gaining on him before Matt Leek made the final tackle.

Apart from Logan's opportunism, Wasps offered very little. Mark Denney and Fraser Waters huffed and puffed in midfield to no noticeable effect, while Dallaglio was the London club's most constructive player. It was Dallaglio who freed up the ball for Logan's first try, and the second was a stroll for the Scotland winger as Botham meandered infield.

Wilkinson went some way to repairing the damage with his second penalty, but the signs that Newcastle had recovered their composure, and in doing so reclaiming the lead, came with a sumptuous try taken at pace by Noon, which Wilkinson converted, before adding another penalty to make it 23-14 at the interval.

With a rare flash of creativity, Wasps worked Martyn Wood across following Wilkinson's fourth penalty, to haul themselves to within five points. But in the next 15 minutes Wasps fell apart as Newcastle piled on another 23 points without reply. To some extent Wasps deserved no better as their poor ball control and unconvincing defence allowed Newcastle the freedom to play at pace.

Botham redeemed himself with a try, but there was still time left for Newcastle to gorge themselves and earn their fifth bonus point of the season, as Armstrong skipped across for two tries and Botham got a second. As if to acknowledge that he is only human, Wilkinson missed with the conversions of the last two tries. But it really didn't matter.